Exclusive: The Brit actor talks stunt driving

The geeky kid from About A Boy , who scored big in his adolescence with Skins , is now properly grown up and leaping into the blockbuster league.

After landing support turns in the varied likes of A Single Man and X-Men: First Class , Hoult’s playing the romantic lead (albeit a zombiefied one) in Warm Bodies (think Twilight with a sense of humour), and as well as an X -sequel, he’s working on long-awaited, oft-delayed sequel/prequel/spin-off, Mad Max: Fury Road .

When we asked him about George Miller’s return to the dystopian thrills of steroidal muscle cars and road warriors, a shaven-headed Hoult told us about his involvement.

On his character, a young warrior named Nux, he explained, “He’s like a puppy basically. That’s how I see him. He gets to drive one of the fastest pursuit vehicles and just lives and dies for that,” before explaining that the stunt driving was mostly left to the professionals.

“It’s all well and good in my head and I’m like ‘I can drive!’ But then you see all the other cars around and how much is going on and how talented all the drivers are - I dunno, I’d probably get all nervous and stall and panic if I was doing it.”

Warm Bodies opens in the UK on 8 February 2013, with Mad Max: Fury Road set to open in 2014.

For much more from Nicholas Hoult, pick up Total Film magazine issue 203 - which is out now!